Pittsburgh Zoo Hosts Scuba Diving Training Course

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Seals, polar bears and sharks won’t be the only ones swimming at Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium this weekend.

A temporary pool has been filled with water for scuba diver training.

“When you come out this weekend, we hope you have a bathing suit, but if you do forget, we’ve got plenty of wet suits here,” says Dave Reidenbach, a spokesman for the traveling scuba training pool called “Be a Diver.”

For instructor Megan Cochran, of Washington Scuba Center, it’s part training, part psychology. Especially with kids.

“You really want to reassure them that they’re going to have a fun time,” she says, “because I was talking with a little girl and she was afraid of sharks in the water.”

Her mother, Beth Cochran, is also a scuba trainer.

“Kids take to the water even better than adults do,” she says. “You just let them get in and do their thing and they relax and have a great time. We go slow, explain everything. They don’t think; they don’t worry about it. They’re just natural.”

For those who hesitate, the pool is only four-feet deep.

“You don’t even have to use your arms to swim,” a young girl says. “You can use your flippers.”